Charity to take off at beer festival

The biggest beer and cider festival in the North has announced North West Air Ambulance Charity (NWAA) as its charity partner for the next two years.

Manchester Beer and Cider Festival organisers were on a mission to find a new partner and hovered over 11 applications before landing on NWAA. They were impressed by the service’s assistance saving lives and the charity’s need to raise £9 every minute helicopters are in the air.

The fleet of three helicopters operate from City (Barton, Manchester) and Blackpool airports covering the North West 365 days a year. The service is not part of the NHS or publicly-funded emergency services and needs to attract funding to keep airborne.

The charity will be circling the huge floorspace of Manchester Central, a venue more used to locomotives than helicopters, to scoop up loose change from festivalgoers as well as a guaranteed income from a share of programme sales. And it promises some entertaining diversions for drinkers from its promotional stand.

Organised by the combined expertise of the nine Greater Manchester CAMRA branches, the festival will feature the charity extensively across its website, posters and social media.

Festival Sponsorship manager Jim Flynn said: “The charity took up our invitation to visit our 2017 festival to see for themselves the size and scope of the event. Past partners all tell us our festivalgoers are a generous lot. But the North West Air Ambulance Charity needs to raise millions to continue the service. If everyone who attends could donate £1, it would keep one of the helicopters fuelled for a month.

“Drinkers who voted Bad Kitty, a 5.5% porter from Brass Castle brewery in North Yorkshire their top tipple in 2017 will be in a spin when they learn that the helicopters used by NWAA weigh an astonishing 6490 pints! ”

Regional Fundraiser for NWAA, Liz Greenwood added: “We are delighted to have been chosen as the festival charity partner for 2018 and 2019. We rely on donations large and small to keep flying every day across the North West. Wherever access is difficult or time is critical, we want to be there to help.

“Combining our trained medics with our pilots makes a difference at every incident – and a third of the people we airlift to hospitals would not have survived without us. We need support and I’m sure the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival will rise to the occasion.”

It’s not the first time the North West Air Ambulance Charity has linked with brewing. Last month, it launched ‘Whirlybird’, a 4.2% deep amber ale with raisins and dark fruit character. Brewed by Bowland Brewery in Clitheroe, 10p from the sale of every pint is donated to the charity.

The Manchester Beer & Cider Festival is organised by the Greater Manchester branches of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

The 2018 festival will be open to the public on Thursday 25th, Friday 26th and Saturday 27th January 2018. Opening times are planned to be: Thursday 12pm – 10.30pm; Friday 12pm – 10.30pm; Saturday 12pm – 7pm.

Advance tickets for the 2018 festival will be on sale in August.

The 2017 festival attracted 13,538 customers to Manchester Central who drank a record 62,000 pints.

The North West Air Ambulance Charity is your local air ambulance charity that saves lives and improves patient outcomes for the residents and visitors of the North West of England by giving the gift of time. nwaa.net

Festival charities partnered with in the past include Breast Cancer Care and Henshaws [Society for Blind People].

Follow us for all the latest news: com/manchesterbeerfestival and @MancBeerFest.